THE TEXAS SOUTHERN SERIES
Overall Record: Baylor leads 4-0
Waco: Baylor leads 4-0
Houston: Never Met
Neutral Site: Never Met
Smith vs. TSU: 4-0
First Meeting: at Baylor 10, TSU 3 [4/28/2004]
Last Meeting: at Baylor 10, TSU 4 [3/28/2006]

THE McNEESE STATE SERIES
Overall Record: Baylor leads 8-7
Waco: Baylor leads 5-4
Lake Charles: Tied 3-3
Neutral Site: Never Met
Smith vs. MSU: 4-3
First Meeting: at Baylor 8, MSU 1 [4/13/1982]
Last Meeting: at Baylor 9, MSU 4 [3/20/2002]

BAYLOR NATIONAL RANKINGS
Baseball America NR
Sports Weekly/ESPN/Coaches 21st
NCBWA RV
Collegiate Baseball 29th

COACHES
BAYLOR: Steve Smith
Alma Mater: Baylor, 1986
Career Record: 443-274-1 [12th season]
Record at Baylor: 443-274-1 [12th season]
TEXAS SOUTHERN: Candy Robinson
Alma Mater: Grambling, 1965
Career Record: [14th season]
Record at TSU: [14th season]
McNEESE STATE: Chad Clement
Alma Mater: McNeese State, 1997
Career Record: 70-76 [3rd season]
Record at McNeese State: 70-76 [3rd season]

BAYLOR/ISP SPORTS NETWORK
1660 ESPN RADIO (Waco)
Tom Barfield, play-by-play
Lark Smith, color

INTERNET FEEDS
GameTracker: www.BaylorBears.com
Audio: www.BaylorBears.com
Video: None

BAYLOR STARTERS
Baylor sends RHP Randall Linebaugh to the mound for his eighth start of the season Tuesday against Texas Southern. This is Linebaugh's second start against Texas Southern. He earned the win March 28 against the Tigers, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts over 5.0 innings.
All of Linebaugh's career starts have come this season. Baylor is 6-1 in those games; Linebaugh is 4-0 with three no-decisions. He is tied for third on the team with 13 appearances this season.
Baylor has not announced a starter for Wednesday's game against McNeese State.

THE TEXAS SOUTHERN SERIES
Baylor and Texas Southern have a brief history: the teams met twice during the 2004 season, once last season and once earlier this season, all at Baylor Ballpark. The 2004 meetings were schedule additions; this is the second straight season in which Texas Southern has been on Baylor's schedule. The Bears won by scores of 10-3 and 11-3 in 2004, 10-3 last season and 10-4 earlier this year.

BAYLOR vs. SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Baylor is 6-0 all-time against teams currently playing in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Along with a 4-0 mark against Texas Southern, the Bears are 1-0 against Prairie View A&M and 1-0 against Southern. Baylor defeated PVAM 4-3 in a schedule-addition game last season. The Bears defeated Southern 10-3 in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Hattiesburg Regional.

LAST TIME vs. TEXAS SOUTHERN
BAYLOR 10, TEXAS SOUTHERN 4 -- MARCH 28, 2006 • WACO, TEXAS
Seth Fortenberry went 2-for-3 with a home run and a career-high four RBI as Baylor defeated Texas Southern 10-4 at Baylor Ballpark. Texas Southern jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a run on a double, a fielder's choice and a wild pitch in the third and a double, a sacrifice and an RBI single in the fourth.
Fortenberry made the lead short-lived, though. After Matt Sodolak singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, Fortenberry lifted a towering home run down the right-field line to knot the score.
Baylor captured the lead for good with four runs on three hits in the fifth. Beamer Weems doubled to lead off the frame, and Kevin Russo walked. Zach Dillon followed with an RBI double to the left-field corner, and Sodolak plated Russo with a single through the right side. A Fortenberry sacrifice fly and a Tim Jackson RBI groundout capped the scoring in the inning.
Kevin Sevigny led off the sixth with a triple and scored on Ben Booker's sacrifice fly. The Bears tacked on two more runs in the inning as Fortenberry and Jake Rippee drew bases-loaded walks.
Texas Southern scratched for a pair of runs, one unearned in the top of the seventh, and Baylor added a run on a walk, a single, a fielder's choice and a wild pitch in the eighth.
Randall Linebaugh earned the victory, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts over 5.0 innings. Owen Reid allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts over the next 3.0 innings. Kerr Foster worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.
Texas Southern's third pitcher of the night, Chris Johnson, was saddled with the loss after alloweing two runs on two hits and a walk with one strikeout in 0.2 innings.
Fortenberry, Sevigny, Sodolak and Weems all had two-hit games for the Bears, while Jackson finished with two RBI.

THE McNEESE STATE SERIES
Baylor and McNeese State meet for the 16th time Wednesday. The Bears hold an 8-7 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to an 8-1, 6-5 Baylor doubleheader sweep April 13, 1982. Baylor is 5-4 against McNeese State in Waco and 4-3 against the Cowboys during head coach Steve Smith's tenure.
This is the first meeting between the Bears and the Cowboys since March 20, 2002, when Baylor defeated McNeese State 9-4 at Baylor Ballpark.

BAYLOR vs. THE SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE
Baylor is 274-127-1 all-time against current members of the Southland Conference, 96-30 during head coach Steve Smith's tenure. Baylor has played more games against Southland Conference teams than any other active conference (non-Big 12).
The Bears are 6-0 against Southland Conference teams this season, going 2-0 against UT-Arlington, 2-0 against Texas State, 1-0 against UT-San Antonio and 1-0 against Sam Houston State. Baylor has won 10 consecutive games against Southland Conference teams since a 2-0 loss April 12, 2005, at UT-Arlington. The Bears have won eight consecutive games against Southland Conference teams at Baylor Ballpark since a 5-4 loss March 8, 2005, against Northwestern State.

LAST TIME vs. McNEESE STATE
BAYLOR 9, McNEESE STATE 4 -- MARCH 20, 2002 • WACO, TEXAS
Last-minute-addition Jared Clements went 2-for-3 with three RBI as Baylor defeated McNeese State 9-4 at Baylor Ballpark. It was Baylor's eighth consecutive win at the time and its third straight triumph all-time against the Cowboys.
McNeese jumped on starter Sean Walker, scoring one run in the first and another run in the third. The Bears' bats awoke in their half of the third as they plated three runs. Clements' double scored Paul Witt and Tim Hartshorn, and Josh Ford's RBI single to left gave the Bears a 3-2 lead.
McNeese recaptured the lead in the top of the fourth when Dooley Prince's single plated Seth LaStrapes and Derek Hebert to give the Cowboys a 4-3 advantage.
The Cowboys roughed up Walker for four runs on eight hits over 4.2 innings, but Baylor's bullpen did the job in relief. Paul Thorp relieved Walker in the fifth and induced LaStrapes into an inning-ending groundout to keep the deficit at one.
Baylor evened things at 4-4 when Clements homered to left. Witt, another last-minute starter, went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Clements and Witt made their way into the lineup when the Bears learned they would be facing a left-handed pitcher in Morgan.
The Bears added one more run in the following inning when Witt's single scored David Murphy. Baylor put things out of reach with a four-run seventh. Michael Griffin's bases-loaded fielder's choice scored Mike Huggins, and Trey Webb's triple cleared the bases as Murphy and Griffin added insurance runs, pushing the score to 9-4.

DILLON NAMED TO JOHNNY BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST
C Zach Dillon was named to the 2006 Coleman Company Johnny Bench Award Watch List, the Greater Wichita [Kan.] Area Sports Commission announced Thursday. Now in its sixth year, the Bench Award is given annually to the nation's top collegiate catcher. The inaugural award was presented to Baylor's Kelly Shoppach in 2001.
A product of Dowling High School in Urbandale, Iowa, Dillon joins Texas Tech's Matt Smith as the only Big 12 catchers on the 34-man list. Ten semifinalists will be announced May 11, and three national finalists will be decided upon by a voting panel and announced May 31.
Dillon leads the Big 12 Conference in walks (38), on base percentage (.528), free passes (44) and times reached base safely (94). He also ranks seventh in the Big 12 with a .385 batting average, a league-best among catchers.
In Big 12 action, Dillon has been even more lethal. He leads the conference with a .443 batting average in league games and is one of only eight players hitting .400 or better in league play. Dillon also ranks third in hits (27), tied for second in walks (12), tied for third in RBI (18), first in on base percentage (.538), tied for first in free passes (16) and second in times reached base safely (43) in conference games.
Dillon has reached safely in 25 straight games overall, in all but one game this season and in 106 of 110 games since the start of the 2005 season. He has reached safely in 29 consecutive Big 12 games and in all but two league contests over the past two seasons. He joins Matt Sodolak and former Baylor catchers Josh Ford and Tyler Bullock to form Baylor's streak of 143 consecutive games in which a catcher has reached safely.

BAYLOR SCHEDULE AMONG NATION'S TOUGHEST
Baylor's 2006 schedule ranks as the nation's 21st-toughest through games of April 23. All but one of Baylor's 16 losses this season came against teams currently with records above .500. The lone losses to a team without a current winning record was last Friday's loss at Texas A&M (20-23). The Bears' 16 losses have come against 11 teams: Arizona State, Houston, Kansas, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech, Oklahoma, Rice, Texas, TCU, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. Those teams have combined 296-169-2 (.636) record this season. Of the 169 losses, 46 came against each other, and those 11 teams are 16-10 against Baylor for an adjusted winning percentage of .711 (280-113-2).

BAYLOR IN BIG 12 STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Through games of April 23, Baylor ranks seventh in the league in team batting average (.290), sixth in team ERA (4.29) and third in team fielding percentage (.971). The Bears are first in the league in triples (23), third in walks (172) and fourth in stolen bases (59). Baylor (.290/.382) and Missouri (.280/.382) are the only Big 12 teams with on base percentages at least 90 points higher than their batting average.
In league games, Baylor ranks third in the Big 12 in team batting average (.303), seventh in team ERA (4.87) and fifth in team fielding percentage (.972). Baylor is the only team hitting better in league play than in non-conference games. The Bears are hitting 24 points better in league games than in non-Big 12 contests (.279). This would be the fourth consecutive season in which Baylor has posted a higher batting average in Big 12 action than in non-conference action.
Here is how Baylor players rank individually:
OVERALL
BATTING AVERAGE: Zach Dillon (7th, .385)
TRIPLES: Seth Fortenberry (1st, 7); Kevin Sevigny (t-2nd, 6); Beamer Weems (t-6th, 4)
HOME RUNS: Seth Fortenberry (t-9th, 7)
STOLEN BASES: Seth Fortenberry (7th, 13); Kevin Russo (t-8th, 12)
WALKS: Zach Dillon (1st, 38)
ON BASE PERCENTAGE: Zach Dillon (1st, .528)
ERA: Ryan LaMotta (8th, 3.09)
WINS: Ryan LaMotta (t-6th, 5)
SAVES: Jeff Mandel (4th, 7); Nick Cassavechia (t-7th, 4)
GAMES STARTED: Ryan LaMotta (t-9th, 11)
COMPLETE GAMES: Ryan LaMotta (t-3rd, 2)
SHUTOUTS: Ryan LaMotta (t-1st, 1)

BIG 12 GAMES
BATTING AVERAGE: Zach Dillon (1st, .443); Beamer Weems (9th, .394); Kevin Sevigny (19th, .343)
HITS: Zach Dillon (3rd, 27); Beamer Weems (t-4th, 26)
RUNS: Beamer Weems (1st, 21)
RBI: Zach Dillon (t-3rd, 18)
DOUBLES: Beamer Weems (t-2nd, 7); Ben Booker (t-6th, 6)
TRIPLES: Kevin Sevigny (1st, 3); Seth Fortenberry (t-2nd, 2); Matt Sodolak (t-8th, 1); Beamer Weems (t-8th, 1)
HOME RUNS: Seth Fortenberry (t-8th, 3)
TOTAL BASES: Beamer Weems (6th, 41); Seth Fortenberry (t-9th, 36)
SLUGGING PERCENTAGE: Beamer Weems (8th, .612)
STOLEN BASES: Seth Fortenberry (t-1st, 8); Kevin Russo (t-3rd, 6); Chase Gerdes (t-5th, 5); Matt Sodolak (t-10th, 4)
WALKS: Zach Dillon (t-2nd, 12); Kevin Russo (t-2nd, 12); Beamer Weems (t-5th, 11)
ON BASE PERCENTAGE: Zach Dillon (1st, .538); Beamer Weems (6th, .469)
ERA: Ryan LaMotta (3rd, 2.58)
WINS: Ryan LaMotta (t-4th, 3); Tim Matthews (t-4th, 3)
INNINGS: Ryan LaMotta (3rd, 45.1); Cory VanAllen (6th, 36.2)
STRIKEOUTS: Ryan LaMotta (9th, 25)
APPEARANCES: Nick Cassavechia (t-7th, 8); Jeff Mandel (t-8th, 6)
GAMES STARTED: Ryan LaMotta (t-1st, 5); Tim Matthews (t-1st, 5); Cory VanAllen (t-1st, 5)
SAVES: Nick Cassavechia (t-5th, 2), Jeff Mandel (t-5th, 2)
COMPLETE GAMES: Ryan LaMotta (t-3rd, 1)
SHUTOUTS: Ryan LaMotta (t-1st, 1)
OPPONENTS' BATTING AVERAGE: Ryan LaMotta (8th, .228)

BEARS TOUGH WITH LEAD IN NINTH
Baylor's April 11 loss to No. 2 Rice snapped a streak of 34 consecutive wins for Baylor when leading after eight innings. It was the first such loss for the Bears at home since Feb. 4, 2003, against Texas State. Baylor is 142-7 when leading after eight innings since the beginning of the 2002 season.
Baylor has not lost when leading by more than one run after eight since the 2003 game against Texas State when the Bobcats scored seven runs in the ninth to overcome a 5-2 Baylor lead.

NUMBERS WATCH
• CF Chase Gerdes needs one stolen base to reach 30 career steals.
• RHP Ryan LaMotta needs 17 strikeouts to move into sixth place on Baylor's career strikeouts list. He also needs 14.0 innings to move into a seventh-place tie on Baylor's career innings top 10 list and one win to reach 20 career wins.
• RHP Jeff Mandel needs two saves to move into a sixth-place tie on Baylor's career saves list. He needs one save to move into a sixth-place tie on Baylor's single-season saves list and three saves to become the fifth pitcher in Baylor history to record at least 10 saves in one season.

LaMOTTA CLIMBS STRIKEOUTS LIST
RHP Ryan LaMotta moved into seventh place on Baylor's career strikeouts earliers this season. He needs 17 strikeouts to match Trey Taylor for sixth all-time at Baylor. LaMotta currently has 236 career strikeouts in 284.1 innings pitched.
1. Jason Jennings - 377
2. Steven White - 320
3. Kris Lambert - 292
4. Kip Wells - 288
5. Josh Scott - 285
6. Trey Taylor - 253
7. Ryan LaMotta - 236
8. Justin Taylor - 229
9. Glenn Nevill - 225
10. Zane Carlson - 225

TRIPLE YOUR PLEASURE
Baylor has 23 triples through its first 41 games of the 2006 season. The Bears had only 21 three-baggers in 70 games last season.
LF Seth Fortenberry leads the Big 12 Conference with seven triples, three more than his career total entering the 2006 season and two more than CF Chase Gerdes' team-leading total of five last season. RF Kevin Sevigny is tied for second in the conference with six triples, and SS Beamer Weems is tied for sixth with four triples. C Matt Sodolak and Gerdes have two each, while C Zach Dillon and 1B/RHP Jeff Mandel have one each.
Baylor is the nation's only team with two players who have tallied six or more triples this season.

LaMOTTA REACHES 100 APPEARANCES
RHP Ryan LaMotta made his 100th career appearance March 10 with his start against Pacific. Of his previous 99 appearances, 92 were in relief. The senior drew three starts as a freshman in 2003, including the championship game of the NCAA Hattiesburgh Regional. In that game, he held Southern Mississippi to a pair of runs on six hits over 8.1 innings.
LaMotta is just the second pitcher in Baylor history to appear in at least 100 games. Zane Carlson appeared in 111 games from 2000 to 2004, a mark that ranks first in Big 12 history and 20th in NCAA Division I history.
If LaMotta appears in 15 games this season, Baylor would join Georgia Tech, Miami (Fla.) and North Carolina as the only schools in NCAA Division I history to have two pitchers appear in at least 110 career games. LaMotta and Carlson, who played together in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, would be the first Division I teammates to both reach the milestone.
Florida closer Darren O'Day entered the season with entered the season with 84 career appearances. Should O'Day reach 26 appearances this season prior to LaMotta's 15th appearance, Florida would be the first school with teammates to both reach 110 career appearances (Florida's Connor Falkenbach appeared in 124 games from 2002 to 2005). O'Day has appeared in 25 games through games of April 23.

BAYLOR STRONG IN LATEST APR REPORT
Baylor's baseball team scored a 961 in the latest Academic Progress Rate (APR), released Wednesday by the NCAA. That score was the best among the eight Big 12 schools whose scores were released; scores for Kansas and Texas A&M have not yet been released. Baylor was the only Big 12 baseball team that scored above the national male student-athlete average (943). The Bears joined Missouri as the only Big 12 baseball teams to score above the national baseball average (931).
961 - BAYLOR
941 - Missouri
924 - Nebraska
906 - Oklahoma
903 - Kansas State
888 - Texas
812 - Oklaohma State
778 - Texas Tech
n/a - Kansas
n/a - Texas A&M

2005 SEASON HIGHLIGHT DVD ON SALE
"Experience the Dogpile," a comprehensive season highlight DVD that chronicles Baylor's 2005 season, is on sale at the Baylor baseball office. The one-hour, 47-minute piece features highlights, interviews and commentary on the program's most successful season. To order, call 254.710.3029.

BAYLORBEARS.COM
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.BaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches and audio broadcasts, is part of the CSTV Network, which currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities, including four Big 12 schools.

BAYLOR/ISP SPORTS NETWORK
Catch every inning of Baylor baseball in 2006 on the flagship station for Baylor athletics, 1660 ESPN Radio.
Popular on-air personality Tom Barfield enters his fourth season as the primary play-by-play man for Baylor baseball. Barfield, the operations manager for KRZI/KRZX and KLRK-FM in Waco, is best known as co-host of the afternoon "You Make the Call" call-in show. Barfield also serves as host for the "Countdown to Kickoff" and "The Baylor Fifth Quarter Show" during football season. He has previously served as the radio voice for Tarleton State, McLennan Community College, Mary Hardin-Baylor and several high schools across the state.
Barfield is joined by Lark Smith in the booth. Smith, whose attachment to Baylor baseball dates back to the days of coach Dutch Schroeder, was sports director for the Baylor campus radio station in the late 1970s and served as play-by-play voice for the Bears' 1977 and 1978 College World Series teams. After nearly two decades in broadcasting, Smith now works for the Heart O' Texas Federal Credit Union in Waco.
Live audio for all Baylor baseball games also are available online at www.BaylorBears.com.

BEARCASTS AVAILABLE FOR SELECT GAMES
Live streaming video is available for select games during the 2006 season. A total of 24 games will be available online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor athletics and a member of the CSTV Network. Thirteen of the 24 webcasts will be against Big 12 Conference opponents, including the Bears' three-game league sets against Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Nebraska, as well as the home game of the Texas series.

INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and the region. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox Sports Net Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18). KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, and it airs at 1 p.m. Wednesdays on FSN Southwest.

HEAD COACH Steve Smith
Steve Smith is in his 12th season as head coach of Baylor's baseball program in 2006. In his first 11 years, Smith guided the program to unprecedented heights, including the most successful eight-year run in the program's 100-year history and a College World Series appearance in 2005.
Smith has compiled a 443-274-1 career record, all at Baylor. He holds the best winning percentage (.618) of any coach in Baylor baseball history, and he ranks second among the program's 18 head coaches in career victories. Smith has led Baylor to seven NCAA Regional appearances, three NCAA Super Regional appearances, one College World Series appearance and two Big 12 Conference titles. He also has coached 12 All-America selections and seven USA Baseball National Team members while at Baylor.
The 2005 USA Baseball National Team head coach, Smith came to Baylor from Mississippi State, where he was an assistant under Ron Polk for five seasons. Prior to that, he served as a graduate assistant for Mark Johnson at Texas A&M from 1987 to 1989.
A former standout pitcher at Baylor in 1982-1983, Smith led the Southwest Conference with a 1.72 ERA as a junior. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 1983 Major League draft by the San Francisco Giants and played four years of pro ball before moving into the coaching ranks.
Smith has tutored seven pitchers in the last 13 years who were selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. He also has coached at least one all-conference pitcher in each of the last 13 years.

BAYLOR: BIG 12'S MOST TENURED STAFF
With 38 years of combined service at Baylor, the Bears' on-field staff is the Big 12 Conference's most tenured. Head coach Steve Smith joins Missouri head coach Tim Jamieson as the league's second-most tenured head coaches, both in their 12th season in 2006 and trailing only Texas Tech's Larry Hays (20th season).
Assistant coach Mitch Thompson (12th year) joined the Baylor staff in Smith's first season, while assistant coach Steve Johnigan (11th year) joined the following season. Volunteer assistant coach Chris Berry (7th year) joined the staff prior to the 2000 season and assumed pitching coach duties this season.
Thompson and Johnigan are the second- and third-most tenured assistant coaches in the Big 12 behind only Texas' Tommy Harmon (16 seasons). In fact, Harmon, Thompson, Johnigan and Missouri's Evan Pratte are the only assistant coaches with more tenure at their respective schools than Berry.

UP NEXT ...
Baylor plays outside the state of Texas for only the third time this season, traveling to Columbia, Mo., for a three-game Big 12 Conference series at Missouri. The Bears and the Tigers meet Friday at 6:30 p.m. CDT, Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be played at Simmons Field on the Missouri campus.